1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to rear seats of automobiles, and more particularly to improvements in a rear seat of an automobile, capable of selectively securing thereto with either one of a separate type seat back divided into two sections in the widthwise direction of the automobile, the respective sections being forwardly foldable independently of each other, or a bench type seat back being integral in the widthwise direction of the automobile and forwardly foldable.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the case of automobiles, especially automobiles of the so-called two box group such as passenger cars, station wagons and the like provided with a rear gate type hatch-back door, even if these cars are the same type, the rear seat back in the rear seat is selectively secured thereto, separate sections of the seat back being forwardly foldable independently of each other, or a bench type rear seat back having integrated right and left seat sections and being forwardly foldable, due to a difference in grade.
The separate type seat back or the bench type seat back is normally provided thereon with a main panel or panels and a frame or frames consisting of reinforcements to reinforce the outer periphery or peripheries of the main panel or panels. However, since the requirements for mechanical strength are different from one seat back to another, these frames have been produced separately of one another.
However, in order to produce frames exclusively used for the separate type seat back and the bench type seat back as described above, it is necessary to provide separate production facilities for each exclusive type of use, thus resulting in increased manufacturing costs.
Especially since the main panel constituting a portion of the frame must be formed by pressing a thin steel sheet and the main panel in the bench type seat back is particularly large-sized, there has been present the disadvantage of incurring a large cost due to the necessity of a pressing step.